


enough is enough

by lostin_space



Category: Roswell New Mexico (TV 2019)
Genre: Alone on Christmas, Christmas, Gen, M/M, Prompt Fill, Substance Abuse
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-19
Updated: 2019-11-20
Packaged: 2021-02-13 04:02:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,180
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21488017
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lostin_space/pseuds/lostin_space
Summary: “You awake in there, Guerin? Do I need to dunk you in cold water?”“Want ‘Lex,” the basically comatose body demanded.
Relationships: Alex Manes & Kyle Valenti, Michael Guerin & Kyle Valenti, Michael Guerin/Alex Manes
Comments: 13
Kudos: 165





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> winter prompt 131. “Please come over. I don’t want to be alone on Christmas.” for [lire](https://lire-casander.tumblr.com/)

“Wow. That’s just pathetic.”

“Thank you, my dear, supportive, and loving sister,” Kyle sighed. Rosa made sarcastic noise on the other end of the phone. He considered hanging up on her. “You know, it’s not really my fault I got stranded here for Christmas. Someone had to watch the family pet.”

“You know Michael doesn’t like it when you call him that,” she said. Kyle smiled nonetheless.

“Then he should stop acting like it.”

Michael had very quickly spiraled after Alex left Roswell for an undetermined amount of time. Rather than go after him, he stayed and whined while everyone else picked up the slack. They took turns watching him, something about not giving up on family or some shit. This week was Kyle’s turn and it turned out to be Christmas, so everyone was enjoying their time snuggled up together and Kyle was sitting in his car.

Most of the time, he didn’t really mind when it was his turn. Michael could be pretty funny and, even when he was drunk or sad, he could still hold a decent conversation. Tonight, however, he felt like he was wasting time. He was sitting outside the airstream and knew Michael was perfectly fine in the bunker for the night. Kyle could go home and be with anyone else, but no. He had to watch just in case.

“Go check on him,” Rosa pushed.

“Fine,” he sighed. They said their goodbyes and ended the call before Kyle started making his way towards the bunker.

When his feet hit the floor, he looked around. It was pretty dark, half the lights having gone out with no one bothering to change them. Still, he was able to spot a body in the corner.

“Guerin, dude, seriously?” he sighed, making his way towards him. He was in a ball facing the corner, so Kyle gently kicked his back. “Get up, I’ll help you to bed.”

Michael didn’t budge, so Kyle kicked him again. When he still didn’t move, he bent down to make sure he was still breathing. His stomach churned when he realized his heart rate had slowed tremendously and his skin was icy to the touch. He rolled him onto his back, seeing his eyes glazed over and tear tracks on his face.

“Jesus,” Kyle sighed. Maybe he should’ve checked on him sooner. “You awake in there, Guerin? Do I need to dunk you in cold water?”

“Want ‘Lex,” the basically comatose body demanded. It wasn’t surprising. Whenever he got this fucked up, all he did was call for Alex. Kyle wondered if Alex knew exactly what leaving had done, but knew he probably didn’t considering no one told him. Kyle had talked to him at least once a week since he left and he always sounded happy. He didn’t want to ruin that.

“Yeah, well, he’s not here,” Kyle said, grabbing his forearms and trying to sit him up. He was just dead weight. “C'mon, dude, it’s Christmas Eve. I wanna get home.”

Slowly but surely, Michael’s face contorted into something of sheer pain as he started to sob and Kyle’s sympathy grew too big for his body.

“If you don’t get up, your sister is gonna kill me,” Kyle said weakly, prodding at him. It didn’t help. “If I call Alex, will you get up?”

“'Lex?” he asked which told Kyle he was all but completely out of it. He pulled out his phone nonetheless and tried not to feel bad when he put it on speaker.

“Merry Christmas!” Alex announced, the timbre of his voice light and airy which promptly started to subdue Michael. Kyle grimaced.

“Hey, I have someone who wants to talk to you,” he said carefully. Alex didn’t say anything. He clearly knew exactly what was happening. “Michael, it’s Alex.”

“Hey,” Alex said, his voice neutral instead of the lightness from before. Michael reached out for nothing in particular.

“'Lex,” he whined. Alex sighed.

“He’s fucked up,” Kyle informed.

“Yeah, I deduced that, thanks.” Alex cleared his throat. “You could’ve called me yourself, Michael.” Kyle didn’t say that he, in fact, couldn’t. He destroyed his phone a day after Alex left and never bothered to replace it.

“Please,” Michael pleaded, “Please come home. I don’t wanna be alone on Christmas.”

Alex was silent for a moment and Kyle was about to point out that it was the most sense he’d made in a week. Michael just slumped back onto the floor of the bunker like a dying character in a Shakespeare play.

“You aren’t alone, you have Kyle.”

Michael let out a whine so pitiful that it actually had Kyle shifting in discomfort. His face was smashed into the floor and Kyle wasn’t sure he was ever going to get up again. He looked like he’d completely lost the will to function. That was saying something because he hadn’t really been functioning at all as of late.

“Kyle, take me off of speaker,” Alex instructed in that no-nonsense type of way. Kyle did what he said, putting the phone to his ear. “How long has he been like that?”

Kyle sighed, “Since you left.” Alex was silent for a minute again.

“Why didn’t you tell me?” he asked.

“I didn’t want to ruin your mood. You always sound like you’re having so much fun and I didn’t want to make you miserable because of him. It’s not fair to you,” Kyle explained. Alex just sighed long and slow.

“Okay, well I’m coming home.”

“Alex, don’t‒”

“I was already on my way,” he said firmly, “It was supposed to be a surprise, but clearly I should’ve come home sooner.”

“He isn’t your responsibility,” Kyle said. Technically, Michael wasn’t his responsibility either, but he’d had more time in life to enjoy it than Alex did. Alex deserved something more than a drunken sack of bones.

“Yeah, but I at least have a better shot at shoving him in the right direction than you do. Put me back on speaker,” he instructed. Kyle agreed hesitantly. “Michael, baby, you hear me?” Michael seemed to be revived by the pet name.

“‘Lex?” Kyle rolled his eyes.

“Yeah, baby, I want you to let Kyle help you to bed, okay? I’m gonna be there when you wake up.”

“You promise?” Michael asked.

“Yes,” Alex said, “You know, as long as you sleep for at least a couple hours.”

“‘Kay, ‘Lex,” Michael whispered in response. Kyle stood up straight again, his lips pressed into a thin line.

“Merry Christmas, Michael,” Alex said softly, “You too, Kyle.”

“Yeah,” Kyle sighed, “Merry Christmas.”


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Alex comes home.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i wrote this approximately a day or two ago i'm not actually sure because all of my days blur together into one giant mass of day

Michael woke up with a headache and in a bed that wasn’t his.

He lifted his head with a groaned and tried to look around him, but his eyes weren’t focusing and his head pounded more. He decided it wasn’t important where he was and let his head hit the pillow again. 

A callused, warm hand pressed against his lower back, clearing his mind and easing his body like the touch of God himself.

“Alex?” Michael asked because, really, God had no match for Alex’s power. The hand slid up Michael’s spine until it reached his neck, gently massaging out the soreness he hadn’t acknowledged until then. Yeah, definitely Alex.

“Let me know when you’re all here so we can talk,” he said softly.

For the first time in a month or so, Michael put effort into waking up. He tried to shake the dim, hungover feeling away so he could talk to him. He rubbed his eyes and stretched his limbs and breathed deep, waking his body from the long rested state it’d been in. He wanted to be present for Alex.

Michael sat up and opened his eyes, willing them to adjust to the light and he was so glad when they did. Alex was some kind of beautiful with the morning sunlight shining in through the window as if to highlight his existence. His hair was longer than Michael had ever seen it, a messy halo around his head that reached towards his sweater. He was fuller too with chubbier cheeks and thighs that completely filled out his jeans. It made him look younger somehow. Or maybe it was just his happiness in general that did that.

There were a million things Michael wanted to say to him, but he chose, “Where am I?”

“My place,” Alex said simply, but it didn’t look like the cabin. Outside the window said that it probably was, but the entire room looked different. It said Alex, now, rather than Jim Valenti’s Hunting Cabin.

“What day is it?”

“Christmas,” Alex said, “Merry Christmas.”

“Merry Christmas,” he said back, “When did you get home?”

Alex raised an eyebrow, “How much of last night do your remember?”

Michael didn’t answer because the truth was he had no idea how long it’d been since Alex had initially left. It had been a massive blur of hell and he couldn’t keep up. His body had seemingly convinced him that Alex had both never been there and had never left, shoveling salt into the wound of his absence like it had nothing better to do.

“Right,” Alex said, getting his answer with Michael not having to say a word, “Which is exactly why this is my Christmas present to you.”

“What is?” Michael asked. He didn’t want to assume that Alex himself was the gift, but it sure as hell felt like it.

“I’m kidnapping you for a month,” Alex said simply. Michael furrowed his eyebrows. “Don’t worry, I filled everyone in and I managed to save your job at Sanders. But, since you can’t go to actual rehab or AA, I’m going to do it myself.”

“Alex,” he sighed, shaking his head, “You really don’t need–”

“I _want_ to,” Alex said firmly, looking at him with those eyes and using that voice that didn’t really give him an option to deny him. “So we’re going to stay here for a month and force you to get sober. I figure after week two we’ll go on a trip to see how you can function around alcohol and shit without needing to consume all of it. I know it’ll be a forever task, but I’m hoping once you get it out of your system with surveillance, it’ll be easier for you to maintain. Or at least be easier for you to acknowledge when you’re spiralling again so you can ask for help. So I’m just going to watch you.”

“And then what happens after that month?” Michael wondered, trying not to let him get his hopes up over the idea of being alone with Alex for that long. It wasn’t like that. “You leave again? I immediately go to shit again?”

“Yeah, maybe,” Alex said, leaning away from him, “But if that happens, then I at least know I tried to help you and you don’t care. Kyle is pretty convinced this I knew massive guilt trip, but I don’t think it is. If you immediately go to shit whenever I leave again and you don’t even try, then I’ll know you’re just trying to make me feel bad. And I want you to know I’m not an easy person to guilt trip anymore.”

Michael stared at him for a minute. The offer sounded nice, but that’s all it was. A nice offer. Alex was just doing this so he didn’t feel bad. Michael didn’t know whether to deny him or just let him help specifically so Alex didn’t hurt because of him. It was a hard decision.

"Listen, I have spent the last couple months getting to know myself again without all the bullshit. And you know what?“ Alex said, a smiling lighting up his face in a way Michael had never seen it, "I _like_ him. For the first time ever, I like myself.”

“I’m glad.”

“And I want to help you get to know who you actually are again.” Michael shook his head.

“This is what I am.”

“No,” Alex argued, leaning closer again and grabbing his hand, “It isn’t. This is just a drunken haze of who you are. I want to meet the real guy in there because I’m pretty sure that’s the one I love.”

Michael’s stomach churned and he frowned. Alex just smiled like the sun and squeezed his hand.

“I haven’t seen him in almost eleven years, Michael. I want to meet him again,” he said, “Can I? Can we get to know him together?”

Michael’s heart was thudding so hard in his chest that he could barely hear. Suddenly the decision didn’t seem so hard anymore. Alex’s smile was blinding and his love was overwhelming and his effort was outrageous. Michael loved him more than anything and he wanted to be loved. He wanted to be lovable. He wanted to be someone Alex could love.

He wanted to be able to love himself.

“Okay,” Michael agreed, “Let’s do it.”

Alex’s forehead leaned against his, his eyes closed with a sort of joy Michael didn’t know was possible.

He could do this.

**Author's Note:**

> Also on my tumblr: spaceskam


End file.
